First,
consider the timing. The news of an Israeli spy embedded deep in the
Pentagon broke on a Friday, the eve of the Republican National Convention.
The FBI isn’t exactly jumping for joy that their investigation was
prematurely leaked – even before they filed charges or made an arrest. The
New York Times reported on Aug. 30 that, “news reports about the inquiry
compromised important investigative steps, like the effort to follow the
trail back to the Israelis.”

This spy affair
centers around one Lawrence A. Franklin, an associate of Douglas Feith and
Paul Wolfowitz, the Likudnik architects of the Gulf War. He is suspected of
handing classified information to two lobbyists for AIPAC who passed it on
to Israeli officials.

Franklin’s immediate
superior at the Pentagon is William Luti who headed the Office of Special
Plans which was tasked with engineering the “intelligence failure” that led
to the Mess in Potamia. Luti reports to Douglas Feith who actually used to
work as a consultant for the Likud. Feith has solid credential as a
Likudnik extremist. His fingerprints are all over the place; from the Plame
scandal to approving torture at Abu Ghraib to deliberately corrupting
pre-war intelligence to selling Likudnik fantasies about post-war Iraq to
approving no-bid contracts for Halliburton to messing up post-war planning.

It takes Feith’s
resume to qualify as Tommy Franks’ number one nominee for the title of “the
fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth.”

Now, put aside Feith
for a moment. Notice the coordinated media campaign to plea-bargain the
charges down from an act of treason and espionage to a misdemeanor. It
takes time to put together this kind of media blitz.

The three main themes
of the cover-up launched by the Likudnik faithful were “Who needed
Franklin?” - “who says that his information was really classified?” and “is
that some kind of crime?”

What follows is a
partial inventory of the ‘damage control’ arsenal that was prepared by the
Israeli Lobby, a cult where Douglas Feith enjoys the rank of a high priest.

The Washington Post
was among the first to join in Franklin’s defense. They quoted a “baffled”
unidentified AIPAC employee. “I have a hard time figuring out what this is
about. If the Israelis or their supporters want to know about deliberations
in the Bush administration, all they have to do is take people to lunch.”

Dennis Ross, an
Israeli lobbyist with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, was
also available for comment. “The Israelis have access to all sorts of
people. They have access in Congress and in the administration.”

The Post also
contacted Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute. “There is no
American policy on Iran,” Ledeen said. “What is he telling them? What can
there possibly be that is classified about American policy on Iran that we
do not know about from the public debate?”

By Monday, August 30,
2004, the Post had rounded up Michael Oren, an Israeli historian who was
kind enough to offer the opinion that Israel “would have very little to gain
by spying on the United States because the relationship is so open and
giving.” He also had this to say “the canard has been out there for a long
time that Israel and Israel's supporters and the neo-conservatives in the
Defense Department have manipulated U.S. foreign policy, especially on Iraq,
to serve Israeli purposes, and this would tend to substantiate that canard.”

See, it’s all some
kind of mistake resulting from a “canard” that the Likudniks in Washington –
better known as neo-conservatives - orchestrated a campaign to market the
invasion of Iraq. It should be noted that others subscribe to an even more
incredible “canard” – that the Likudniks at the Washington Post, especially
Charles Krauthammer, were major actors in promoting the march on Baghdad.

In Israel, Ha’aretz
was also prepared for Franklin’s defense: “‘Sensitive’ data of this sort, or
of an even more sensitive nature, is routinely conveyed during meetings
between American officials and Israeli diplomats under the bright lights of
upscale restaurants in the heart of Washington, D.C.” (Ha’aretz, Aug 30,
2004)

Even the Christian
Science Monitor was in on fixing the “son of Pollard” scandal. They noted
that “It is still not clear whether the charges will be serious (possibly
espionage), or something more mundane (mishandling of documents), or whether
there will be charges at all. FBI officials reportedly were tipped to a
potential problem months ago by a series of email exchanges. The
investigation recently ratcheted up to the point where Justice Department
officials have begun briefing Pentagon officials.” Translation: the fox was
advised that one of his hens had hatched a rotten egg and was advised to
take appropriate measures to contain the stench.

JTA, which offers its
readers “Global Jewish News,” parroted the party line. “To those who work
with AIPAC in Washington, or have worked for the organization itself, the
idea of information being passed from government officials to AIPAC staffers
to Israelis seems almost commonplace. After all, these people see each other
on almost a daily basis, at think-tank lunches and policy meetings
throughout the capital. Information is exchanged and each participant tries
to show his importance by touting what he knows and whom he has access to.”
A certain Jon Alterman, identified as a former State department official was
quoted as saying, “The easiest thing to learn in Washington is that no one
likes to be surprised. AIPAC doesn’t like to be surprised and nobody wants
to surprise AIPAC.”

Notice a common thread
that indicates a well-rehearsed campaign. The narratives of Franklin’s
defense team include lunch dates, dinner dates and upscale restaurants where
classified information is casually exchanged between Israeli Lobbyists,
Pentagon officials and Israelis. It creates an aura of sophisticated people
conducting normal business. In the same picture frame you see bumbling FBI
agents intruding on their privacy and possibly inflicting harm on the
affairs of the nation.

What we have here is a
pre-emptive strike against the FBI agents who made the mistake of holding a
surprise party for AIPAC. At some point, the FBI wanted to be certain that
they were not intruding on an operation that might have the approval of
Franklin’s superiors at the Pentagon. They took the precaution of advising
Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith that a certain employee in their inner
circle was suspected of espionage. So, Feith and Wolfie took appropriate
measures to contain any further damage to their country – Israel.

We shall see, over the
course of the next few weeks, whether the Israeli Lobby can intimidate the
FBI. The “Son of Pollard” story is already losing steam. Ashcroft is
probably under a lot of pressure to reign in his ‘rogue’ agents and give
them proper instructions on how to salute in the presence of AIPAC
officials. Right about now, a few pissed off patriotic FBI investigators are
getting real time lessons on Washington hierarchies.

It
is easy enough to admire these agents for their courage, their tenacity and
their respect for the law of the land. But you have to be very naïve to
believe that they will get as fair a public hearing as Douglas Feith, Paul
Wolfowitz and Lawrence A. Franklin. Chances are that the fix on the “Son of
Pollard” scandal was a done deal before the FBI put a foot in the ring.